Fox Sports’ fan-centric content strategy has seen online audiences rise 86% this year when compared to the same period last year, reaching the two million unique audience mark for the first time in March 2016, according to Nielsen Online ratings. data. Fox Sports has had growth double that of its nearest rival among Australia’s top 10 sporting sites, according to the data.
Fox Sports CEO Patrick Delany said it was “no coincidence” that fans are flocking to its digital platforms. “Our massive recent investment to provide sports fans with news, videos, stats, and live scores across every sport and team is already paying dividends. Add to that the ability for users to stream Fox Sports News, our dedicated 24/7 news channel, across iPhone and Android apps, Apple TV, Telstra TV and foxsports.com.au and we have an extremely powerful and compelling offering, providing sports fans with a seamless digital experience”, Delany said.
“FoxSports.com.au is proud to be the number one multi-code sports site in Australia. We averaged over two million unique sports fans in the last quarter who, between them, viewed more than 70 million videos in 2015.”
FoxSports.com.au also delivers live stats, scores, commentary and analysis across more than 140 different domestic and international sporting competitions.
Delany said: “The expansion of Fox Sports’ digital offering was part of the network’s two-year plan to entrench it as the market leader in ‘sports aggregation’. It’s part of the broader entertainment trend and viewer demand for one-stop content hubs. We felt sports fans were under-served in the app market, and this is where Fox Sports is filling a need, and we’re seeing great returns as a result.”
Free to download, the Fox Sports app provides a digital connection for sports fans across Australia, including access to live polling integrated with show broadcasts and live streaming of Fox Sports News. Fox Sports subscribers also have further access to premium content, including Fox Sports shows, live event streaming and on demand replays.
Powered by a 100-plus strong dedicated news team producing premium content 24/7, Delany said the depth and breadth of journalism had clearly struck a chord, with the app achieving 300,000 downloads and a 52% retainment rate after the five months following its September 2015 launch.
“Overall we’ve seen 3.4 million fans who have chosen to engage with Fox Sports via our social platforms and we’re uploading more than 2,000 content pieces every week. Our audience on Snapchat Discover, which now reaches 3 million people per month, has grown significantly, showing that the quality of our content and broad distribution is really working for us,” he said.
Another major new development for the sports network is the introduction of “Fox Shots” this year. Fox Sports’ user-generated video content platform gives fans the opportunity to upload their mobile phone footage to millions of people via our broadcast.
“There are over 7.5 million digital sports consumers in the Australian market and sports fans follow an average of three to four sports in a meaningful way,” Delany said. “Fox Shots is another example of our fan-first approach to finding new ways to localise and personalise content, whilst also making a major play into E-Sports and gamification. Fans are at the centre of everything we are doing. At every turn the first question we ask ourselves is ‘how can we make this an even better experience for our fans?”.
This post was sponsored by MCN.
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